


Underwater

by IAmNotOneOfThem



Category: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: AU, M/M, Mermaid!Q, Mermaids, mermaid - Freeform, tw: character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 19:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmNotOneOfThem/pseuds/IAmNotOneOfThem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>And I can breathe underwater...</i>
</p>
<p>On a mission, James finds Q. A strange creature with a tail, scales and gills living in a lake in the middle of the forest. They fall in love.<br/>The way mermaids express their love, however, is different from the human way...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underwater

There was a long, thin creature moving through the water, its tail - with scales shining bright in the sunlight falling down through the leaves and trees - the only thing he could see of him.

James put his hand on his gun just in case and moved in closer, stepping over a corpse on his way.

The camp he went in to had been inhabited by at least twenty soldiers having gone rogue. He couldn't figure out why they betrayed their country, but while loyalty to his country was the most important thing to him, an agent, it may not be for mercenaries. Some hadn't even been able to speak the language of the country they fought for; they saw money, smelled a chance and took it. Now, with bullets through their heads and blood pouring out of their wounds, James figured that not even the money could save them from the consequences of their actions.

If there was an afterlife, they probably wouldn't enjoy it. What was dead should stay dead, an end, no way back and nothing lying ahead; James was already looking forward to that.

No more shooting, no more killing, no more tragedy. Just the rush of pain and then it all was over.

He thought he had killed everyone, but the creature in the water made him wonder if he accidentally missed someone. There wasn't an indicator that someone was hiding under the surface or using any kind of device to breathe underwater, and the tail made him think of a fish, not a human.

It turned out to be neither, surprisingly.

Probably having heard James get close - he hadn't exactly tried to be subtle - a boy stuck his head out from underneath the water and blinked, a smile which reached his eyes making them light up in a bright green. They were the colour of the creature's tail and were abnormally bright, which was probably why James had noticed them the first place.

Or so he told himself. It wouldn't surprise him if he had inhaled some toxic or ate something rotten, poisonous in this damn jungle. It wouldn't surprise him at all; it was too hot, too wet and the air tasted like dying plants.

Areas like these made him feel homesick, a feeling he usually didn't experience, or think of as one that he was capable of.

At the moment though, he only had eyes for the young man who, by now, had lifted his torso out of the water, head tilted curiously. It had to mean something that James noticed the blood running down his arm before his mind finally registered that the boy had a tail; driven by the urge to bandage his arm, take care of him, James got down on the ground and the creature's eye level. He ripped a part of his shirt off, reached out, then paused.

"May I touch you?" He asked, before a thought crossed his mind. "Do you understand me?"

The creature smiled and moved, lying to rest his chin on his crossed arms. "I do," he said, his accent posh, sharp, but so very British that James found himself dumbfounded. He blinked, but looked at him quickly again. "And you may. What is your name, soldier?"

"I'm not a soldier."

"But you fought," the boy said, tilting his head. "What else could you be?"

Maybe boy wasn't the right word, James thought, taking a closer look at him. His face certainly did have the features of a teenager, just giving the illusion of something innocent, but James saw the intelligence, the age, written in his eyes and couldn't help but smirk.

He always did enjoy the company of someone who had the capacity to surprise him. The boy reminded him of someone he knew, of someone who had died and now wasn't with him anymore; the memory felt like a sting to the heart, subtle, but there, a short moment of pain before it was over again.

Just like he asked, he reached out and let his fingers brush over the boy's cheek, mesmerised by his eyes which kept on mesmerizing him, never looking away, not even blinking. James registered that, but the next moment, the thought was gone; like water brushing over a glass surface, being washed away again before it could settle down.

His fingers moved further down and stopped at his neck, gently turning the boy's head so he could see the gills.

It was fascinating; the boy was like a mixture of fish and man, had a tail with scales and gills, but also fingers, hips, a chest. If the water wouldn't be this clear, James wouldn't even have seen his tail, and even now that he had, he felt himself not bothered by it. There was something inside his chest which spread warmth through his complete body, and refused to let through any negative thoughts.

Normally, it would alarm James, but right now, he wasn't bothered.

Gently lifting the boy's arm, he wrapped the piece of fabric he ripped off his shirt around the little wound on the boy's arm, a shiver rushing up his fingers, through his arm and up his back. James' lips parted almost against his will, and his pupils dilated, his vision fixed on the merman and everything around him - the corpses, the voice he could hear from his ear-piece lying behind him in the grass - blended out.

The boy smiled sweetly and looked down at the bandage, poking it curiously. "Why did you fight when you're not a soldier?" He repeated his question of earlier, making James chuckle because it was anything but usual for him to forget something. Bandaging the boy had been more important than replying, it seemed.

And even now that he did, he saw nothing odd in the fact that he didn't hesitate, didn't find a lie to cover up a secret no civilian should know about. The boy didn't know where England was, didn't know MI6, had no phone or computer; he couldn't tell anyone, and heck, James felt like he could trust him.

What harm could a creature in a lake do?

"It's my job," James said finally, sitting in the grass with his legs crossed underneath him. "I'm an agent in her Majesty's Secret Service."

The creature tilted his head. "Agent?"

James smiled. He hadn't expected him to know, but the boy's look of confusion was endearing. "I travel around the world to stop people from doing harm to my country, but I'm hidden in the shadows, unlike soldiers who are known officially."

"So you're a shadow man," the boy stated, nodding to himself as if the reply was acceptable. "And what is your name?"

"James. What is yours?"

The merman turned so his head was resting on the ground James was sitting on, his chest turned up to the air. James could count every single rib, could have trailed them down to the merman's navel easily. Only that he didn't seem to have one, just as his chest looked different than an ordinary human's. James looked at him curiously, wondering what else was different.

"Q," the merman said, smiling up at him brightly. "I like the letter. I didn't have a name before, you have to know, but the men here, they talked and I understood them like I understood you. And one said this funny word and it started with Q."

"Quackish?" James tried, nearly laughing out when Q looked at him in disbelief. "Quailing? Quantics? Quilting? Quincunx?"

"Those can't be words," Q said, eyes widening in amazement. "Are those words you use? Tell me more!"

"Quizzing. Qoumodos. Quota. Quietest. Quirkily. Quadis. Quail. Quick. Quiet. Quirks. Queer. Queen."

Q turned around again and shuffled closer, putting his head down on his crossed arms only inches away from James, his tail moving almost lazily behind him to keep him above the surface. Every now and then, James counted thirty seconds, he moved backwards again, sinking under the water and then up again. Maybe he couldn't breathe, James thought, maybe he had no lungs, or not human ones, at least.

"I think they said queer." Q hummed, tilting his head in interest. "What does it mean?"

"Strange, curious on one hand, but also gay on the other." James explained. "Do you know what gay means? No? When a man is in love with a man, they're gay. Or homosexual, if you want the less insulting term."

Q blinked a few times, then nodded. "Are you gay, James?"

The agent paused, stared, then laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm bisexual. That means I am interested in women and men alike and don't give a damn about sexuality. Unlike other wankers who do."

"Wanker," Q repeated, having to chuckle. It did sound odd when you didn't grow up shouting it at his peers, James thought, laughing when Q repeated it again and again. "What does that mean?"

"It's a bad word," James just said, the corners of his lips hurting from how hard he was smiling. "You shouldn't say it to someone unless you have a reason to."

"What kind of reason?" Q asked curiously, getting underwater again for a moment. His hair clung to his skull, making James wonder how it would look when it was dry.

"If they insult you or are complete idiots then you can insult them in return," James said leaning backwards a bit, getting out his gun to clear it and put new bullets in. Q's gaze rested on him, and James smiled. "That's a gun. I shot those men behind me with it."

"Can I hold it?" Q asked, reaching up to it, but James batted his hand away and shook his head. Q pouted. "Why not?"

"It's dangerous. We wouldn't want you to accidentally kill me, would we?" When Q shook his head rapidly, James gave into the urge and ruffled his hair, marveling at how soft it was even this wet. "Good. I'd rather stay alive and continue serving my country, thank you."

"Why? What makes you want to protect a country which sends you to your death?"

James blinked. The question took him off-guard, even though it was one he had asked himself so many times before. The truth was, he thought, he had nothing else to do in this world. Nothing else to fight for, no one there to take care of, to love and pleasure and serve in a way lovers did to each other.

The fight for his country's safety felt like the only thing besides committing suicide and drinking himself to death James was capable of.

As if he felt the thoughts coming from James, Q reached out to take James' hand and squeezed it, giving him a bright smile. "Don't worry. You don't have to tell me yet. Will you stay here a bit longer? You're the first company I ever had."

Hearing the sadness in Q's words, James couldn't help but feel sympathy for the boy whose eyes, wide and worrying, rested on James' face in a silent plea. He had no idea why he, without much thought, agreed; the country could wait a bit longer, and besides - James had more than a year’s worth of leave left.

"I'll stay a bit longer," he said, his heart skipping beats when Q beamed and when his face lit up again. "I promise."

He got up and turned around, searching for the bags with tents he had seen earlier. He, unlike Q, couldn't just sleep outside and not get sick or be an easy target; a tent would give him some warmth, and make sure he couldn't be surprised too much. Q continued looking at him while James took the tent out and built it up, fetching blankets, pillows and a few bowls from the camp and putting everything inside.

Then he sat down on the ground to the lake again and smiled at the merman. "So Q," he said. "Tell me about yourself."

"There isn't much about me," Q said, moving to swim around his lake, disappearing under the surface for several seconds before he came back up; first, only his face, then his head until he finally showed his torso again. "I've been here all my life. I learnt all kinds of languages by people who came to live here. There were a group of men and they left with boxes filled with shiny things. A group who helped the animals here, a group who picked fruits off the trees. I always hid when they came. "

James hummed. "I take it you did not enjoy the hiding?" Memories of hours spent in the same position hidden in all kinds of corners, of top of the highest buildings filled his mind; memories of hunger, thirst and the desire to move, stretch his legs, came back to him. He scratched the back of his head and let out a long breath, willing the images away again.

Supression was the best tactic. James didn't believe in psychologists and their hypnosis therapies, their dirty, old couches and the conversations they tried to provoke. Everything they did was obvious, was easy to look through; for someone who was paid to read people, they did a bad job. James knew the answers to the questions they asked, knew in which moments he had to smile, when he had to look guilty.

Without those little tricks, he would not have been cleared for field duty anymore. They would put him behind a desk and let him fill out files, which he honestly did not mind, but why wasting his time when he could die protecting his country?

Dying old and alone wasn't something he wanted to do.

Dying in the fire of battle, with bullets breaking through his skin, flesh, his bones, seemed like a better way out. Shorter, quicker, less lonely.

"I don't enjoy hiding. Never have. But those men all looked... bad, so I didn't want them to find me." Q tilted his head. "Now I wonder if I should have shown myself. They could have taught me things."

"How to be a can of tuna, you mean," James said, looking amused when Q just frowned. "It's fish. You know what fish is, right?"

Q shook his head. "Is that a fruit?"

"It's an animal. You eat it. It has a tail like you and gills."

The mermaid looked scandalised at those words and drew away a bit, swimming to the middle of his lake. If James would want, he could have stood up, reached out and pulled him close again. The lake was ridiculously small for a mermaid of Q's size. James had no idea how long his tail was, but his upper body was maybe just an inch or two shorter than James'.

He lacked the muscles, of course, but apart from that, he could have been an ordinary human, wouldn't it have been for the gills, and the inhuman light shining in his eyes.

"Why would I want to eat someone of my own?" Q asked, shaking his head in disgust. "No. I don't eat that."

"You don't even know if it's one of your species," James commented dryly, chuckling when Q, once again, just looked confused. "Race? Kind?"

Q frowned. "Kind means nice. It doesn't make any sense otherwise." James opened his mouth to interject, but Q just lifted a wet hand and stopped him. "You're just confusing me. Tell me more about your job instead. It's far more interesting."

James chuckled softly. "It's not really. I kill people. I travel around the world. I seduce and fuck and try not to get killed by women who were in my bed just hours ago."

"What does seduce mean?" Q asked, and James let out a long breath. "I'm annoying you with my questions, aren't I?" The mermaid sunk down a bit, chin resting on the water like on wooden floor. "Of course I am. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It means flirting with women until they have sex with you."

"What is flirting?"

James blinked. "Um. Giving women compliments on their appearence and signaling that you are single and looking for someone?"

Q nodded, seeming satisfied with that. The silence, which lay itself over them slowly, like blankets or clouds, was broken when Q cleared his throat. "What is sex?"

"Reproduction?"

"And what is that?"

James rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Let's see. This is going to be awkward..."

xx xx

James had planned to stay with Q the few days it took MI6 to find him in the middle of the jungle, but days became weeks in which he ignored the calls, the shouts coming from the earpiece, and at the end James lost count. He didn't know why; time passed quickly, went by so rapidly that James didn't know whether it had been one week already, or two, or three.

Strangely, he found himself not being bothered and quite frankly, he didn't care.

He enjoyed every single second of it, sat there by the lake for hours straight just to listen to Q talk and laugh and ask the most innocent questions James ever heard - how is it to breathe, why do humans hate each other that much, how does a gun work, why didn't James have a tail like Q did and so on. With anybody else, James would be annoyed and would have gone ages ago.

But with Q, he found himself not minding it and, more curiously, enjoyed giving away personal information which he never would have done before.

There was something about Q that made James' heart beat faster; something that made him desire more time, more conversations, more body contact with him. He felt that the inches between them, the water and the ground, were too much, like inches became miles, and miles became poles they were apart.

He slipped out of the tent, saw Q's sleeping form barely visible through the water, and suddenly, he knew.

Knew why he thought about staying here, about taking Q with him and buying him a pool so he could swim around and breathe. Knew why he had felt the urge to lean down and press his lips against Q's even though he couldn't even know whether mermaids kissed each other or not, whether Q liked him the same way James seemed to and so on.

Knew why the thought of traveling back to England again broke his heart and why he couldn't imagine spending a second away from the skinny, little creature with his bright, green eyes and his beaming smiles. He knew, and the thought made him smile.

He didn't even think about the dangers and the problems connected to loving a creature which wasn't even human, wasn't even from the same species as himself, only thought how joyful he felt, how free and alive like he hadn't since Vesper. He waited for the pain to come, just like always when her name fell, or when he remembered her brown hair and her green eyes, but it never did.

He knew that Vesper wasn't in his heart anymore; now Q inhabited this space, and Q didn't even know it yet.

Tapping the surface, James waited for Q to wake up and smiled when the mermaid blinked at him sleepily, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes at the same time with the back of his hands. "Yes?"

James didn't think he could explain love to a creature which hadn't even known what violence was until James explained it to him in detail. It was endearing, but in this moment, it wasn't even close to be useful. How could he explain to Q that he just wanted to kiss him, that he wanted to let his hands slide over his sides and down his back to see if Q had any curves, an arse or something to hold onto. How could he explain to a creature with no penis or other private parts that he wanted to fuck his mouth?

There was no way he could without sounding like an idiot or maniac to the merman, so instead of saying something, he just wrapped an arm around Q's neck and pulled him close, pressing his lips on the merman's.

The noise Q made against his reminded the agent of a cat, a little meow, or mewling, he couldn't tell. But all that mattered was that Q kissed back, and that his thin, spidery fingers clung to the fabric of James' shirt.

Kissing Q felt just like James imagined when he lay in the tent, his hand wrapped around his own cock and his strokes almost desperate. He hadn't felt arousal like this in months, had jumped from woman to woman, but not one had managed to set his blood on fire like the little merman with his wide green eyes and the beautiful, angelic laughter.

When the hands tugging on his shirt suddenly gripped harder, James opened his eyes and looked down at the little merman, seeing that he was pulling him closer and closer to the water. James let him, not understanding why, but he let him, feeling the water surround him slowly.

He closed his eyes again, the water playing with his short hair and shirt, all air leaving his nose in form of bubbles. It took only seconds until he began to feel pressure on his chest, and until he realised that Q was pulling him deeper and deeper, everything around them dark and no light left anymore. James tried to make him stop, tried to remind Q that he had to breathe, but his struggles were ignored, and Q's grip too strong for the agent to pull away.

He, after a few moments of disbelief and growing worry, didn't want to anymore.

He stopped moving, stopped fighting it and just lost himself in the kiss, feeling his mouth open when his body screamed for air, when his lungs felt like they were exploding, but only water came in. Everything began to fade. The last thing James noticed was that Q still was kissing him, the merman's arms going around his waist to keep him up, until everything was black, and James lost unconsciousness.

xx xx

When Q drew away from the kiss and opened his eyes, James was already dead.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to carmy-w for beta-reading this


End file.
